STACK 

ANNEX 


5 

025 

044 


ECHOES    FROM    EDEN 


By 


Alberta    Babcock 


t!JWV.  OE  CALIF.  LIBRAHY,  LOS  ANGELA 


ECHOES  FROM  EDEN 

By 
Alberta  Babcock 


Round    Table    Press 
Alpine,    Texas 


CONTENTS 


A  Manger,   a  Door,  a  Key 26 

The  Brightest  Shroud 31 

Crown  of  Pain 22 

Dark  Land  of  Evil  Dreams 12 

The  Divine  Miser 29 

Ebbing  Love 10 

Echoes  from  Eden 5 

Existentionalist  Prayer 8 

f  ire    •         ••••••••• 

From  the  Waters  of  the  World      .         .         .         .  15 

Hymn  to  Imanuel      .......  27 

In  the  Last  Analysis 11 

Like  a  Fluted  Song 6 

Like  Broken  Glass 18 

Now  is  Forever 19 

Ophelia 14 

The  Other  Half .24 

The  Patient  One 23 

The  Promise  and  the  Dream          .         .         .         .  10 

Residue      . 11 

Smaller  Than  a  Mustard  Seed       .         .        .         .  21 

Tenants  of  Delinquency 30 

Unbound 16 

Unity 25 

Voice  of  Pegasus 17 

Voice  of  the  Public  Statue 9 

The  Waterfall .13 

Who  Mourns  for  Bells  in  Eden      ....  20 

Windows  to  the  Lover  28 


ECHOES    FROM    EDEN 


He  called  into  Eden 

Strange  echoes  returned- 
His  unearthly  song  not 

Alone  in  me  burned. 

The  words  all  have  faded 

That  Ghost -haunted  Song 

Lures  me  like  magnets 
To  where  I  belong. 

Echoes  from  Eden 

No  thistles  or  labor, 

Apples  for  Adam  and 
Figs  for  the  neighbor. 

Welcome  the  Ghost  and 
The  stranger  that  sings 

And  the  echo  from  Eden 
The  perfume  it  brings. 


5 

1316800 


LIKE    A    FLUTED    SONG 


In  the  moon- swept  purple  skies 

A  woman,  moves  with  sapphire  eyes 
Through  the  dark,   a  thing  of  ice. 

She  steps  on  stars  (the  strange  hours  pass) 

They  make  the  music  of  broken  glass 
As  they  fall  in  the  void,   resound  and  crash. 

Still  and  thin  like  a  fluted  song, 

Icicles  tinkle  and  jingle  along, 
She  moves  where  wondrous  things  belong. 

She  stirs  great  tempests  blowing  over-- 

Her  long,  blue  veils  the  storm  clouds  cover- 
She  sweeps  the  skies  for  a  phantom  lover 

The  swell  of  music  --a  deafening  roar  - 

Beats  on  the  souls  frail  shell  like  shore  — 
The  Queen  of  the  Arts  has  passed  once  more. 


FIRE 


We  are  buried  in  the  sky 

Dig  us  up  and  let  us  die 
Lay  us  out  like  colored  skeins 

Paint  with  fire  our  hearts  and  brains. 

Restless  in  our  lofty  grave 

This  vast,  eternal,  endless  cave 

Yields  us  but  a  lonely  light 

Winter,  iron  and  clay  and  night. 

If  you  have  tasted  brighter  bread 
Dined  on  fire  where  angels  fed 

The  sweets  that  mortal  greed  pursues 
You  cannot  find,  you  cannot  lose- 

Sad  bewildered  sky-bound  ghost 
Fire  is  banquet,  Fire  is  Host. 


EXISTENTIONALIST    PRAYER 


Tear,  tear  from  the  heart  of  me 
The  snake  coiled  roots  of  this  naked  tree 

The  fractured  moments  like  broken  crocks 
That  spill  my  life  on  the  hungry  rocks — - 

Tear,  tear  from  my  living  mind 
All  that  is  dying  and  silent  and  blind, 

The  twisted  hands  and  mouths  of  fate 

The  armies  that  winnow  the  cities  of  hate. 

Plant  in  me  harvests  and  tear  out  the  weeds 
Bind  up  the  wonderful  wound  as  it  bleeds. 

Tear  the  temporal  discords  away- — 
The  thieves  in  the  coils  of  my  mortal  day. 


8 


VOICE    OF    THE    PUBLIC    STATUE 


I  met  Medusa  and 

Turned  to  stone. 
By  all  about  it  is  well  known, 

(If  you  prefer 
I  thus  abide) 

Enjoying  being  petrified. 

It  is  a  cool  longevity 

Better  than  fleshy  brevity. 
I  will  survey  this  whole  domain 

When  you  no  longer  here  remain. 

All  of  your  ecstasy  and  pain 

Will  pass  with  summer  sun  and  rain. 
My  destiny?    to  stand  alone. 

Immutable  eternal  stone. 


THE  PROMISE  AND  THE  DREAM 

What  became  of  all  the  youthful  froth? 
Is  it  worth  the  promise  and  the  dream? 

What  virgin  Spring  gave  bluntly,   seemed  so  gay-- 
Then  the  death  of  Winter  froze  the  stream 

The  razor  edge  of  Autumn  cut  it  through 

(The  wealth  of  youth  the  four -eyed- girl- boy  knew) — 
The  poles  of  North  and  South,  the  moon-drawn- 
truth 

Hitched  to  a  tantalizing,  bursting  team. 

Above  sea-gardens,  gulls  and  chiming  clouds 
Far  from  blood-berried  earth  and  still-born  dream- 
Is  the  mark  upon  their  foreheads  spinning 
From  the  end,  or  cause  to  a  beginning? 


EBBING    LOVE 

He  calls  with  diamond  voice  the  river, 

Hangs  the  earth  with  alien  ice, 
Builds  an  avalanche  of  cloud  banks 

Autumn's  dream  and  echo  dies. 
Death  comes  by  on  silver  skates, 

Chasing  folk  in  fur  and  feather. 
Time  to  feed  that  thin  blue  flame 

Of  love  against  the  winter  weather. 


10 


RESIDUE 

Shiva  with  her  myriad  crayons  writes 

Her  manuscripts  upon  the  days  and  nights. 

Her  lightening  draws 
Blue  jagged  jaws 

That  frighten  herds  of  dragons  into  flight. 

While  here  between  my  brows,   around  my  waist, 
Her  Plowman  carves  indelibly, 

What  will  not  be  erased. 

How  can  I  catch  the  love  notes  now,  with  wings, 
Over  the  wall  white  butterflies,   she  flings, 

That  flutter  off  before  a  word  is  read. 

My  grass-roots  scrawl  in  earth  a  prayer  for  bread. 


IN  THE   LAST  ANALYSIS   THERE  IS  NO  LOGICIAN 
LIKE    THE    RAPT    SAINT 

Love  is  like  a  wild  thing 

Hiding  in  the  wood, 
At  slightest  sign  of  noise  or  knives 

It  vanishes  for  good. 

But  let  the  hunter  kneel  in  prayer 

The  forests  teem  with  friendly  faces, 

Love  is  like  the  warm,  wild  things 
In  leafy,   secret  hiding  places. 


11 


DARK    LAND    OF    EVIL,    DREAMS 


Mysteries  were  stirring  out  in  the  briny  deep 
The  children  in  the  town  were  restless  in  their  sleep 
Silence  turned  to  bedlam  and  the  barking,  howling  night 
Aroused  men  to  their  windows- -but  darkness  met  their 

sight. 

No  one  saw  the  legions  with  their  burning,  glowing  eyes 
March  from  the  depths,  and  dripping,  out  of  the  sea 

arise! 
From  the  cold  depth  of  Science  untouched  by  the  golden 

sun 
From  a  loveless  age  of  darkened  hearts  these  ugly 

phantoms  run. 
They  spread  their  sulphurous  poisons  abroad  through 

the  little  town 
Like  zombie  armies  they  return  to  the  dark  sea, 

sinking  down. 
Bad  dreams  will  plague  all  mankind,  for,  none  with 

second  sight 

Can  find  nor  put  these  demons,  dismembered  into  flight 
The  mysteries  that  stir  about  the  briny  floor  of  thought 
Throw  up  dark  monstrous  forms  that  stalk  the  world 

of  night, 

unsought. 


12 


THE    WATERFALL 


I  gazed  upon  the  waterfall 

And  felt  my  soul  go  forth 
(But  not  in  Spring  and  not  in  Fall 

And  not  from  South  or  North) 
Then  I  saw  it  wished  to  lie 

Upon  the  blue  reflected  sky 
And  veer  with  cloud  and  dance  with  sun 

Where  death  and  dreams  like  fishes  run-- 
Just  then  the  magic  of  the  stream 

Chained  me  like  a  silver  dream  - 
Around  my  limbs,  about  my  face 

Wound  waters  murmuring  prayers  of  grace 
Upon  life's  flowing  dream  1  feast 

Cascading  like  a  bridal  veil 

(But  not  from  West  nor  yet  from  East 

Or  Summer  sun  or  Winter  hail). 
But  from  a  region  with  no  name 

From  where  love  goes  from  where  love  came 
As  in  the  water -mirrored  sky 

Behind  our  eyes  enchantments  lie. 


13 


OPHELIA 


Suddenly  I  feel  the  sea 

Not  out  there  but  here  in  me, 

Stone  illusions  wear  away, 
In  shallows  of  reality. 

Too  tired  to  meet  the  roaring  spray 
I  drown  a  little  every  day 

But  try  to  swim  and  float  and  care 
I  cannot  go --or  wish  to  stay. 

The  water  deepens,  darkens,  drags, 

Life  monotonously  lags 

Lethean  currents  wind  my  hair 

On  tangled,  hidden  weeds  and  crags, 


14 


FROM  THE  WATERS  OF  THE  WORLD 


You  are  Narcissus  risen  from  Greece 

I  have  seen  the  turn  of  your  golden  shoulder 
Before  in  my  dreams  — — - 

From  the  waters  of  the  world 
Your  own  face  glitters  up  to  you 

Your  lips  part,  your  hands  reach  out 

You  call  to  the  wavering,   sparkling  self  that  is 

A  reflection  never  to  be  caught 

Night  falls  upon  the  waters,  myths,  and  men 
Grow  blurred within  its  darkening  depths 

The  stars  of  Heaven  point  their  lights 
Where  one  brief  day  ago  your  face, 

Cried  for  the  empty  image  there. 


15 


UNBOUND 


Over  the  ragged  line  of  distant  earths, 
Hangs,  high,  the  architectural  blue  of  space, 
Full  of  tall  furniture  that  floats  in  time 
Suns,  clouds  and  comets,  frictionless, 
As  Magic  Spells,  returning  Springtime  casts, 
Buds,  are  her  delicate  fairytales,  unfolding 
Perfumes,  liberally  to  scatter  far  and  wide 
Over  the  burning  towns  and  countless  graves. 
Earths  flutter  by  us  like  bright  autumn  leaves, 
We  ride  on  our  own  star  forgetful,  quite, 
Of  the  motion,  motionless  paradox 
Dancing  like  small  worlds  in  mirror -highlights 
On  innumerable  bubbles,   children  blow, 
Only  to  watch  them  burst  like  fragile  time. 


16 


VOICE    OF    PEGASUS 


I  will  not  suffer  harness 

Nor  halter  on  my  neck 
I  will  not  let  their  burdens, 

My  sky-born  swiftness  check. 

I  will  not  plod  their  cold  dark  earth 
My  heart,  my  wing,  my  hoof 

Were  made  to  cleave  the  clouds  above, 
My  realms  remain  aloof. 

For  if  I  tarry  once  too  long 

Upon  your  sodden  earth — 
They'll  chain  me  there  and  say  I  am 

A  myth  and  have  no  worth. 


17 


LIKE    BROKEN    GLASS 


We  heard  their  anger  curling  down  the  world, 
Stars  fell  with  many  sounds  like  broken  glass 

Down  pits  of  moonless  night  their  anger  hurled 
Into  new  graves,  the  broken  dreams  to  pass. 

But  through  the  opening  eyelids  of  the  dawn 

A  spear  of  sunlight  pierced  the  prison  gloom. 

The  maze  of  years  converged  and  focused  on 
The  shadow  of  a  cross  -  an  empty  tomb. 

Our  sleeping,   selfless  dreams,  twice  born,  awake, 
Rise  from  their  graves  and  jails  and  resurrects, 

Above  the  shrouds  and  shibboleths,  His  Peace 
With  everlasting  brooding  wings  protects. 


18 


NOW    IS    FOREVER 


I  went  to  the  store  with  my  dollar  and  found 

No  bread,   and  the  place  was  burned  to  the  ground. 
Then  I  inquired  when  it  all  burned  down 

And  they  said,   "Do  you  mean  the  store  or  the 

town?  " 
I  said,    "Well,  the  store,   I  mean,   I  guess,  " 

They  eyed  me  strangely  and  answered,   "Yes,  " 
"The  store  burned  down  ten  years  ago, 

And  the  town,  in  five  will  burn  you  know.  " 
I  thanked  them  kindly  and  hurriedly  said, 

"Where  am  I?  "  they  answered,   "The  town  of  the 

dead. " 
"And  if  you  will  turn  on  the  road  marked  'Past1 

You  will  come  to  the  store  that  burned  at  last, 
And  you  will  be  able  to  buy  your  bread 

On  that  road  marked  'Future1  up  ahead.  " 


19 


WHO  MOURNS  FOR  BELLS  IN  EDEN 


Who  mourns  the  sweet  mad  music  Eve  betrayed, 
Bequeathing  silence  now  to  Eden's  brides--? 

The  winding  cracks  creep  slowly  over  towers 

That  house  the  trembling  bells  that  ring  no  more; 
Like  poison  tendrils  crawling  through  the  night 
Live  crevesses  that  move  through  darkened  earth-- 

Manto  groping  fingers  feel  for  crumbling  truth 

And  rusting  faith;  the  wood  gone  hollow  from 
The  termites  of  the  mind;    This  giant  shell 
Shall  feel  the  agebound  Phoenix  break  its  walls 

And  shatter  with  a  burning  birth  the  bells. 

Silence  has  no  temple  roof,  no  dream-- ! 
Beneath  the  shade  of  wings  like  licking  flames- - 
But  music  could  have  made  a  living  hour 

Of  wordless  song,  of  labor  and  of  love; 

And  blown  upon  the  Holy  Tree  a  flower, 
White  as  a  cloud  to  shield  Humanity- - 
Who  mourns  for  Bells  in  Eden  grieves  for  three. 


20 


SMALLER    THAN    A    MUSTARD    SEED 


Millenium s  have  melted, 
Dropped  from  the  cliff  of  time, 

A  murderous  miasma 

Of  tears  and  blood  and  grime. 

But  essences  were  simmering 
Within  that  witches1  brew 

That  formed  the  crystal,  formed  the  seed 

Of  prophet-promised  "New.  " 

It  was  so  small  they  knew  it  not, 
Atomic  in  its  size-  - 

The  drop  of  poison  in  the  drink-  - 

That  demons  blindly  prize. 


21 


CROWN    OF    PAIN 


When  first  I  courted  Beauty- 
How  she  eluded  me 

Silence  met  my  deepest  sigh 
Indifference,  bended  knee! 

Then  through  heavy,   sleepy  days, 
I  knew  she  heard  my  prayer 

For,  life  gave  a  new  child  to  us 
With  flying  golden  hair. 

There  in  Time  this  wondrous  thing 
In  me  quiescent,  hidden, 

Waited  for  Love's  great  stone  step 
At  beauty's  house,  forbidden. 

If  your  wish  is  granted 

And  Beauty  turns  your  slave 

She  adorns  the  bed  of  birth 

And  triumphs  past  the  grave. 


22 


THE    PATIENT    ONE 


It  is  God  they  hunger  for 
Silent  in  the  market  place 
Alas  they  buy  amiss  their 
Glitter -bobs  and  lace-- 

Opaque  eyes  like  children's,  litten 
By  the  playthings  scattered  there- - 
Through  pageantry  and  carnival, 
Circus ,   show  and  fair ! 

They  buy  so  dear  and  sell  so  cheap, 
The  moments  running  through  the  glass- 
He  waits  with  lowered  mist  veiled  eyes 
On  every  corner  that  they  pass. 


23 


THE    OTHER    HALF 


The  smell  of  sanctity  we  sample 

Sunday  at  church  (for  an  example) 

Has  its  own  peculiar  flavor, 

Wrapped  in  priestly  prim  behavior. 

While  taverns1  wine- stale-halitosis 
Taken  wisely  in  small  doses, 

Its  own  low  sanctities  exude 

Convivial,  though  peasant- rude. 

Did  you  ever  smell  a  tavern? 

Did  you  ever  smell  a  church? 
Which  lulls  the  mind,   and  stays  the  heart? 

Which  makes  the  cortex  lurch? 

x 

Do  you  prefer  the  odor 

Of  a  singing  congregation 
Or  tankard  dregs  that  stimulate 

A  spiral  conversation? 


24 


UNITY 


In  tangled  jungles  of  the  soul 

Something  in  us  stalks  its  prey, 
Something  flies  on  vulture  wings 

Above  dead  dreams  of  yesterday. 
Past  the  farthest  star  in  sight 

Something  scans  the  whole  night  sky, 
Divinity  dwells  in  us  all 

How  can  we  ever  die? 
Something  in  us  knows  the  shrine 

In  every  garden  of  the  earth, 
Circles  with  the  shining  sun, 

Resurrects  with  every  birth. 
A  child  within  is  always  gay, 

And  also  in  us  something  weeps, 
Something  always  is  awake — -- 

Yet  a  sleeping  beauty  sleeps. 
The  flowering  paradises  grow 

Where  desert  wildernesses  dwell, 
We  are  a  whirling  universe, 

Hosts  to  heaven  and  to  hell. 


25 


A    MANGER,     A    DOOR,     A    KEY 


How  many  times  have  I  passed  by 
The  humble  stable  door 

As  soft  light  flows  from  under  it 
Where  Magi,  Him,  adore. 

Upon  a  gate,  unseen,   within 
The  knocking  I  have  heard — 

But  door  bells  of  the  busy  world 
My  reaching  hand  deterred. 

Deep  in  my  pocketbook  1  guard 
All  jealously  the  key — 

That  opens  these  and  other  doors 
When  I,  reborn,  am  free. 


26 


HYMN    TO    IMANUEL 


God  came  to  me  on  a  big  white  horse 
And  blue  and  gold  His  pennants 
How  cosmic  bright  His  stable  door 
With  starry  earths  for  tenants. 
Great  hoofs  struck  lightening  from  His  path 
While  myriad  earths  adoring 
Blew  blossoming  winds  about  His  mane, 
Kept  Love -Song -circles  pouring 
To  cast  the  immemorial  Spell 
First  and  Last,   Imanuel. 

He  traveled  lightly  from  afar 
(Oh  warm  life  riding  through  me) 
Beloved,   as  the  Traveler  passed 
His  flaming  eyes- -they  knew  me! 
And  as  he  tracked  the  Milky  Way 
Upon  His  Wonder  Steed, 
I  saw  the  Star  of  Bethlehem 
Rise,   again  and  lead. 

Then,   radiant  light,   grown  faint  and  far 
Too  soon  dropped  out  of  sight 
A  singing  throng  with  ancient  song 
Possessed  all  time  that  night 
Like  falling  stars  their  echoes  fell 
"Imanuel  --  Imanuel!" 


27 


WINDOWS    TO    THE    LOVER 


And  so  have  I 

The  X-ray  eye 

And  though  I'm  buried  deep 

I  see  the  flowers  above  me  grow 

In  my  mysterious  sleep. 

I  dwell  now  in  the  darker  realm 

But  hold  the  temple  stones 

That  hold  the  walls  that  hold  the  spires 

Deep-rooted  in  my  bones.  . 

Some  men  think 

This  darker  drink 

This  world  of  moving  people 

Grows  as  high  as  the  tree  swept  sky 

Or  the  cross  on  the  temple  steeple. 

You  may  live  under  or  over  the  sea 
Or  over  or  under  the  cloud 
But  bloomless  gardens  there  will  be 
And  silence  for  a  shroud. 

Unless  you  know  the  living  heart,  the  living  eye  and  ear 
Beauty  seems  but  ugliness  and  love  will  be  but  fear, 
This  world  is  but  a  door,   the  grave  is  but  another 
The  kings  and  flowers  upon  your  path 
Are  windows  to  the  lover. 


28 


THE    DIVINE    MISER 


With  unveiled  eyes  turned  in,  the  naked  soul 
Feeds  on  a  starving  food;  stale  drudgery- - 
The  mops  and  brooms  and  dishpans  "Daily  News11 
Lean  passion  (sitting  on  the  kitchen  stool) 
Speaks  hunger  for  lost  Venus,  minstrels,   ruins- - 
Fear  humming  what  or  where  to  do,  or  go? 
Another  presence  whispers,    "Martha-  -  Mary !  " 
Or  "War  between  the  temporal  and  eternal.  " 

At  last  they  hear  the  quiet  footsteps  come-- 
In  legions  to  the  Islands  of  Decision 
Where  there  will  be  that  "Something  Glory  Clad" 
That  offers  pens  and  brushes,  drums  and  says-- 
"Mary  choose  the  better  part.    Please  take 
This  little  bowl  to  catch  the  wasted  blood.  " 


29 


TENANTS    OF    DELINQUENCY 


We  are  made  of  music,  fire,  design-- 

(Our  flames  make  burning  butterflies,   then  die) 
We  sat  in  little  school  room  desks  and  learned 

The  ABC's  of  ashes,  old  cocoons -- 
And  watched  Spring's  sighing  with  a  winged  sound, 

Come  through  the  window,    Winter  closed  that  fall, 
As  he  threw,   spendthrift,  wakening  and  young  loves -- 

And  no  one  spoke  of  God  or  Art  or  Peace 
(Fly  inward  out  of  sight,  dead  poets,  too) 

Then  came  the  stir  of  headlines  big  and  black 
Limm  fire  upon  the  deep,  dark  walls  of  night, 

And  marching  men  and  girls  in  overalls, 
As  cities,   one  by  one  snuffed  out  their  lights. 

Now  our  children  sit  at  little  desks 

And  no  one  mentions  all  the  same  old  things- - 
Who  will  tell  our  children's  children  Life-- 

Wanders  lonely  through  her  vineyard  now 
Afraid  her  trampled  grapes  are  growing  wild! 


30 


THE    BRIGHTEST    SHROUD 


I  shall  weave  a  bright  flowered  shroud 
That  will  sing  to  them  after  I  die. 
I  want  to  be  covered  with  rhymes  and  songs 
On  my  journey  into  the  sky. 

I1 11  trade  you  a  cold  hard  ruby 
For  a  tender  warmth  or  verse 
We!ll  see  whose  jewel-box  is  fullest 
After  the  ride  in  the  hearse. 

Wefll  see  whose  coat  is  the  brightest 
Whose  song  is  the  rich  one  or  gay-- 
We'll  see  in  the  Queen  of  Cities 
That  love  alone  will  pay. 


31 


A     000  086  363     9 


